Author Gail Gauthier's Reflections On Children's Books, Writing, And The World of Children's Publishing

Tuesday, October 09, 2012

Time Management Tuesday: Developing A Planning Habit

Last week I wrote about planning to get the most out of small units of time when you're relying on Situational Time Management to help you get things done. Today I'm hitting the bigger picture--why planning is so important to Situational Time Management in the first place.

Our goal as writers is, immediately, to write and, in the long-term, to finish a written project. Work routines and habits can certainly help us to do that. However, they're far easier to form if we actually have a static life situation in which we have the same amounts of time falling on the same days of each week to work with. Those of us who are trying out Situational Time Management to manage our work time don't. Because of day jobs or family responsibilities we can't adhere to a routine because our work time keeps changing.

Without a routine to help us create a work habit, we have to be extremely careful that we don't end up working only when we have nothing else to do. How do we replace routine to make sure that doesn't happen?

What I've been doing is making planning the routine. To make Situational Management work, you have to be constantly thinking ahead, to the next week, to the next month, and beyond. What is your writing time next week? Schedule when you're going to work next week and commit to it. You know that a big work project is coming up for your day job in another month? What kind of writing can you do then? Do you finish the draft this month so you can put it aside for a few weeks and market or study while you have less time next month? Make a plan and commit.

It took me months to get into the planning routine with the yellow notepad that I described last week. Now, though, toward the end of this week I'll be thinking about what will go onto next week's plan. I may even be making lists for next week before I start formally writing out the plan on Sunday night or Monday morning.

Planning is my routine and my habit. I think that's how to cope with the situation I find myself in, and it's how to make Situational Time Management work.

About Me

I'm the author of eight books for children and young adults, all published by G.P. Putnam's Sons. I've republished Saving the Planet & Stuff as an eBook. Now I have experience wading in both the traditional and self-publishing pools. My essays have been published at The Millions and Literary Mama, and my short stories at Alimentum and Cricket. I have been blogging at Original Content for eleven years.